The prior art transport is generally not capable of transporting oversized high tonnage heavy-duty units, particularly crushers and crawlers. This was in large measure because of the State and Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) load bearing limitations on roads, and the deteriorated state of the bridges. As a consequence, the prior art practice is to transport low tonnage units, or less desirably, disassemble the high tonnage heavy-duty units into sections at the depot. Then each dismantled section would be loaded onto a separate transport and separately transported to the worksite. The sections would then be reassembled at the worksite. After completion of the crushing operations at the worksite, the heavy-duty unit would be disassembled into sections and the sections then re-transported on separate transports back to the depot. The prior art system requires extensive energy and fuel consumption with excessive emissions of greenhouse gases. The prior art low tonnage units, namely crushers, could not handle large rocks that required high energy consummation in preliminary pre-breaking or pre-crushing operations. The present invention provides for greenhouse gas reduction and fuel and energy conservation in the road transport of high tonnage heavy-duty equipment. The present invention also provides for further fuel and energy reductions in eliminating pre-crushing operations.
A system for the transport of a tracked crusher or crawler is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication 20040135344, Publication Date, Jul. 15, 2004 (Douglas I), and International Publication WO 99/49976, International Publication Date, Oct. 7, 1999 (Douglas II). Douglas I and Douglas II disclose a transport system which has limited tonnage load capabilities, is subject to shimmying, has poor load weight distribution, does not meet a broad range of Federal and State DOT regulations, and requires extensive assembly and disassembly of components in the mounting and dismounting of the tracked crusher or crawler. The prior art crusher or crawler tonnage limitation and concomitant heavy-duty limited performance in turn limited the efficiency of operations and concomitantly fuel efficiency. The present invention provides for the transport of high tonnage crushers and crawlers in a single transport mode and yet meets Federal and State DOT regulations.